Before the Lega Serie A gives me a stadium ban and a hefty
fine, please understand that this is not meant to be territorial
discrimination. When I say, “We are not Ne**olitans,” I simply mean that we are
not in third place, we are not in the Coppa Italia Semifinals, we don’t have an
experienced coach, and we don’t wear light blue. Geesh, the Lega have become so
touchy about all of this. Don’t they realize that sometimes saying “We are not
Ne**olitans” is a compliment?
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| I didn't realize Napoli was a different country... |
For one thing, we are traveling to Napoli tomorrow. To the
San Paolo, which, as everyone knows may as well be called a Cauldron of Fear™
by Napoli’s opponents. Napoli have earned their third place berth this season
with 13 wins, 5 draws, and 4 losses, while Milan have only 7 wins, 8 draws, and
7 losses. To make matters worse, Napoli did well to reinforce in the recent
transfer window, with a pair or fullbacks and some young central midfielder
called Jorginho (yes, of course Milan were linked with him,) who seem to have
slotted right into Napoli’s lineup.
However, we may be lucky to be facing Napoli at the right
time. Their Coppa Semifinal score was 3-2 for Roma, but don’t let that deceive
you, one of the Napoli goals was and own goal by De Sanctis. This, following
their 3-0 defeat to Atalanta last week. Yes, you read that right, a 3-0 defeat to Atalanta. In fact their
current run of form is W-W-D-D-L in the league. So either they will demolish us
and send us home in a box, or we may be able to take advantage of their poor
run of form. It’s hard to say, because we are not Ne**olitans.
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| They took all three points from us in our house, can we return the favor? |
For the ridiculous loss to Atalanta, which was based on
three massive defensive blunders, by the way, Benitez fielded Reina;
Reveillere, Maggio, Fernandez, Albiol; Callejon, Mertens, Pandev, Dzemaili,
Inler; and Duvan Zapata. This was not their strongest lineup, as I assume
Benitez was resting players for the midweek Coppa match. But I don’t think
he’ll take any chances against us tomorrow, so look for Higuain and Jorginho to
start, amongst others. It appears as though he has a mostly healthy squad,
missing only Mesto and Zuniga to long-term injuries.
But there is a suspension that will directly affect Napoli,
and that is the suspension of Bonera to yellow card accumulation. Tough luck
for the Neapolitans, because after their ridiculously loud and intimidating
12th man at the San Paolo, they were probably counting on Milan’s best defender
to help them score at least one goal. I mean, Bonera has personally allowed
more goals in his last two appearances than he has personally scored himself in
his whole career. No wonder our opponents smile when they see him line up. But
not this time, Napoli. We may be a team in transition with a young new coach,
but you are going to have to settle for only 12 men tomorrow night.
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| A shame Napoli will be missing their 13th man |
Meanwhile, our list of injured/sick players has shortened,
but still seems painful. We are missing Kaká to illness, and Zapata, El
Shaarawy and Cristante to injury. It will be really interesting to see if Seedorf
lets Mexes take Bonera’s place. So far, the new coach seems to prefer
handicapping the team with the One Goal Wonder™, but without him available, he
may have to select a center back who can actually defend.
Our away record is very poor, and the San Paolo is one of
the most difficult places to go and play. But if the real Milan shows up, we
have just as much right to those three points as those Neapolitans do. Certainly we need every point we can do to
climb the table to a respectable spot again. We have seen very positive and
encouraging signs each match since Seedorf took over, even if we didn’t win
each match, and at some point, the new ideas are likely to click and the
winning streak begin. Whether or not that is tomorrow remains to be seen. After
all, we are not Ne**olitans.
This post inspired by the music of Radiohead’s “The
Bends” Album
Napoli vs. Milan
Saturday, February 8 • 20:45 CET (2:45 EST)
This match is being shown LIVE on RAI in the U.S.
Check here for stream links before the game